I have been wanting to make this Nigella Lawson recipe, from her Kitchen cookbook, for awhile. It's simple and fast enough for a weekday meal. I did make some substitutions due to what I had on hand; lean ground beef for the ground turkey, jasmine rice for the basmati/sushi rice and freshly grated carrot on the side. Still, this was a successful tasty weekday meal. Although I have shared the recipe below by all means, visit Nigella Lawson's website for this delicious recipe and more.
Nigella Lawson's Korean Keema
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Serves 2
3/4 cup basmati rice or sushi rice
8 ounces ground turkey
6 thin or 3 fat scallions, chopped
1 cup frozen petits pois (petits peas)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or ground nut oil
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
1 - 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
FOR THE SAUCE:
2 tablespoons Gochjang
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
METHOD
- Cook the rice according to packet instructions, or in a rice cooker according to manufacturer's instructions. And put a kettle on to boil for the peas later.
- Whisk together the sauce ingredients, and stir in the ground turkey. Leave to steep for about 5 minutes, or while you are getting on with your next tasks, such as chopping the scallions and blanching the peas.
- Heat a wok or heavy-based frying pan on the hob. While this is heating up, pour boiling water from the kettle over the frozen peas in a sieve or colander, letting the hot water drain away, thereby defrosting the peas. When the wok is hot, add the oil, then the defrosted peas and chopped scallions. Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the turkey and its sauce, and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes until cooked.
- Add the 2 tablespoons rice wine with 4 tablespoons water to swill out the residue of the sauce from the meat-steeping bowl (so that nothing is wasted) and scrape and pour this into the pan, and stir-fry for about 30 seconds until it's all piping hot.
- Serve over rice, and with a good scattering of chopped cilantro.
Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe! - JD